Vietnam presented the soldier with many of the same problems he faced in Korea. The terrain restricted movement of troops and supplies. The Mekong River flooded the coastal plain of the south. And monsoons dumped 100 inches of rain over most of the country. Roads between major cities were often nothing more than foot paths. And it was here that the mobility of the helicopter and short takeoff capabilities of its fixed-wing aircraft helped to free the Army from this forsaken terrain.
Early in the war, helicopter tactics were applied inconsistently. As capabilities evolved quickly, Army doctrine could not keep up with the advancements. But in 1965, the Army implemented a new concept called Air Mobility. This new idea for warfare depended on the coordinated use of transport helicopters, gunships and air ambulances to move large numbers of troops by air rather than ground, to insert them and outflank enemy units. When the pilots of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) whirled away from the deck of the USS Iwo Jima in 1965, to their base in South Vietnam, they foreshadowed the role of the helicopter not only as a weapon, but as the symbol of United States operations in Vietnam.
The Vietnam War was a war in which battles often were very brief and bloody, tactical and logistical support often counted for success and failure, and dying could be seconds or minutes away. It was a war in Army Aviation came of age and added a new dimension to warfare, that of mobility.
